Leader: We owe them more than gratitude

THEY were innocents abroad, serving their country as it tested nuclear weapons whose immense destructive power was beginning to be understood. What was little understood at the time was the destructive personal legacy that the British tests in the Pacific in the 1950s would leave many of those who witnessed them.

Yesterday, hundreds of ex-servicemen, including 70 Scots, who claim they suffered lung cancer, skin defects and fertility problems after being exposed to these tests lost their Supreme Court bid to launch damages claims against the Ministry of Defence, not because their case failed to satisfy the judges, but because their claims were ruled to have been made too late.

It is shameful that after the ruling the MoD would say only that it owed a “debt of gratitude” to these men – whose only protection from what we now know was deadly radiation was being told to cover their eyes and turn their backs when the bomb went off – but denied liability for their conditions. We owe them more than gratitude. As they were part of building up of our defences for the Cold War, it could be argued we owe them our liberty and our way of life.

What is even more shameful is that other countries have compensated their veterans, as has the Isle of Man. The MoD has even paid £20 million to Australia to help nuclear test veterans. Whether the MoD has a legal obligation to pay compensation may be questionable, but it clearly has a moral obligation to do so.

These men suffered so we could be defended. The government must finally recognise this and pay them the compensation they deserve.